April 2019

Nice day with John and Jan. We fished the backcountry and tried a few different things. Tried a few snook spots early on, didn’t have much luck but then that changed and John landed a stud 13 lber or so! Also a handful of trout here. We then tried a different area and got into a good redfish bite. No monsters but a steady pick of fish kept us busy for an hour or so. We tried a couple other spots and picked a few more there too. On the way home we stopped and checked and area for tarpon. We found them and it didn’t take long after 5 minutes we almost had a double header but both fish came unbuttoned. Hard to hook em with the tide going into the wind. We hooked another that went through the leader, and then finally got one to stick for John. Landed that fish and we caught a few sharks and that wrapped up our day. Not bad for only really putting in an hour or so of fishing on tarpon.  Back at it again tomorrow with these two, not sure what we’re gonna do yet.  1 for 4

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Another fabulous day tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys. Bart was down with his crew who also fished with Capt Bill Bassett. We stuck around local and fished for the silver king. Little slow early on we had very weak tide. But after a bit it started to move. We had one good bite we missed on a drift. Then we got in the right spot a little later and had a lot of activity. Several cheap shots and missed a few more good bites just not staying on the hook. Live mullet fishing can be like that, they are big baits and very acrobatic so often the hooks get twisted around and fouled up. But there is nothing as exciting as watching a big tarpon try to eat them it’s all part of the experience. We drifted out and then hooked a nice fish we landed and were able to jump in the water with for a cool picture. After that things slowed down we had one more blow up on a bait but no strike. We moved areas and fished another bridge. Within 15 minutes or so, we hooked up and got the leader quickly on a big fish, but he then swam under the bridge pilings where we couldn’t get him out. We had one more good bite that jumped and spit the hook after 30 seconds or so. We caught a few nurse sharks and that seemed to be it as the tide was slowing down again. We changed areas again and found a nice school of tarpon again all to ourselves. We jumped one right away and then I thought we’d quickly get another but we had to really work at it. We moved a few times and eventually hooked a nice 100 lb fish! Landed her and got her boatside but she didn’t want to roll over and pulled the hook while leadering the fish. But we got some sick air shots! After that we called it a day. But another great day and good bite I think we had 10 fish pulling drag and got 2 to the boat and technical catch on a 3rd. Lots of fun and love it when they keep ya busy all day. I’m off the next two days but hopefully getting my new boat soon so very exciting about that!  3 for 10

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

4/23/19 – Nice day with Chris, Scott, and Ray. We focused on tarpon and started early. No early action for us so we ran and fished our other live mullets. Lots of activity near day break. We had a few bites and a bunch of cheap shots, but just couldn’t get one stuck. Cudas kept eating them off too after the tarpon swatted them around. We kept with it and soon the fleet arrived. The action slowed down and a few boats hooked a fish then we got our turn landing a 50 lber. Also got a big nurse shark. After that we fished a bit more until the tide quit. We decided to go snapper fishing after that. Had to work at it but we got our limit of snappers and a few other things including a juvenile goliath grouper, redfish, and 4 juvenile cubera snappers. All in all not too shabby. Back after the silver Kings tomorrow! 1 for 3

4/24/19 – Awesome morning with return clients Todd, Farrah, Gray and Faith. We left early in search of tarpon. We tried nearby fishing some crabs early on but no luck again. We hit the bridges and first bait out it was game on before I could even close the bail! We hooked a nice 30 lber Gray landed. After that we got blown up several more times and missed a few more bites. Moved around and got into more fish. Steady action with lots of cheap shots and several more bites pulling drag, but just hard to hook ’em on the live mullets. Finally Gray got another one about an 80.lber on a sick surface bite grey hounding towards the boat! Landed that one, and then the fleet had shown up and things quietted down. We had a few more good bites, and hooked one fish we chased but lost after a few minutes. Eventually the tide quit and we decided to make a move. Found more happy fish and Faith got to catch her tarpon a nice little 40 lber. Back at the dock by 11, just an awesome morning I think we had over a dozen bites! When the weather gets nice seems like it’s game on! Back at it tomorrow.  3 for 12